Proposal 3: A strong requirement for renewable energy

By Mark Ranzenberger, For the Daily Tribune

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Voters in November will decide whether to put a strong requirement for renewable energy into Michigan’s highest law.

Proposal 3 would enshrine in Michigan’s constitution a requirement that by 2025 a full 25 percent of Michigan’s electricity be produced by “clean, renewable electric energy sources.” Such sources could include wind energy, solar energy, hydroelectric power and biomass fuels.

A “yes” vote would put the mandate into the constitution. A “no” vote would keep it out.

It’s backed primarily by a group calling itself Michigan Energy Michigan Jobs, a coalition of environmental, union, alternative energy and business interests. Its biggest backer, according to campaign finance statements, is a San Francisco-based organization called the Green Tech Action Fund.

That fund is affiliated with a group called the Energy Foundation, which says its goals are “advancing new energy technologies that enable economic growth with dramatically less pollution.” Among the groups listed as its partners are the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, and the David and Lucille Packard Foundation.

The Green Tech Action Fund has given Michigan Energy Michigan Jobs $1.34 million, more than half the $2.2 million raised by the supporters. Michigan campaign finance law puts no limits on the amount of money an individual donor may give a ballot committee.

Lined up against the proposal is a group called the Clean Affordable Renewable Energy for Michigan coalition, or CARE. According to the most recent campaign finance statements, that group had raised nearly $6 million, with almost all of it coming from DTE Energy and CMS Energy, the state’s two largest electric utilities.

Michigan is among 38 states that already have a requirement on the books for some sort of renewable energy standard. A law passed in 2008 calls for 10 percent of the power to be generated from renewable sources by 2012.

Other states also have higher percentage goals, including New York aiming for 29 percent of its power from alternative sources by 2015, Colorado attempting to get 30 percent of its power from renewables by 2020, California’s highly ambitious goal of 33 percent by 2020, and Hawaii’s goal of 40 percent by 2030.

None of those states has enshrined those goals in their constitutions; Michigan would be the first, if Proposal 3 passes.

Michigan has a long way to go even to reach its 10 percent goal, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. The largest alternative source of energy in 2010, the latest figures available, was burning wood, producing 1.5 percent of the power; conventional hydroelectric generation made 1.1 percent; biomass produced 0.7 percent; and wind 0.3 percent.

By contrast, coal powered 58.4 percent of the generating capacity, with another 26.4 percent coming from nuclear power. Natural gas has grown in importance, now generating 10.9 percent of Michigan’s power, as the price of gas has fallen with the advent of widespread use of fracking.

Federal tax credits and the state requirement have spurred the growth of wind farms in some parts of the state. Huron County, at the tip of Michigan’s Thumb between Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron, has become a center of wind power.

Gratiot County in central Michigan also is seeing growth in wind turbines, spurred by zoning laws that welcome the giant power generators and existing power infrastructure. But not every community where the wind blows welcomes the huge wind turbines.

Benzie County in northwest lower Michigan is one of the windiest places in the state, but a coalition of local groups beat back a wind farm proposal. Several townships there and in neighboring Manistee County have installed moratoriums on further wind development.

An analysis of Proposal 3 by the nonpartisan Citizens Research Council of Michigan notes that to reach the goal, the state may have to step in an suspend local zoning restrictions to get more wind turbines built.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has identified large sections of the Great Lakes as having “excellent” or “superb” offshore wind energy potential. So far, however, the engineering challenge of building offshore turbines in deep lake water that often is covered with ice has not attracted investors.